Decades-old family-run Toronto hot dog business making a comeback this summer
A family-run Toronto hot dog business that fed Toronto's summertime food fixation for generations closed its doors in 2015 after nearly 40 years. This summer, they're back in business.
If you're old enough to have memories of fat frankfurters sizzling on the barbecue that date back before 2015, there's a good chance it was a J. Kwinter hot dog behind the smoky, charred scent. If you're not old enough to remember that, what are you doing here? It's nice outside: go to the park.
But back to the hot dogs.
From the day Jack Kwinter opened his North York production factory in 1978, J. Kwinter Gourmet Foods was a hot dog dynasty. Kwinter produced other meat products as well — salami, smoked turkey, ribs and deli meats — but it was the hot dogs that steered the ship.
Jack Kwinter began honing his craft in 1942, working at a salami factory at age 13. Infatuated with the art of sausage making, he spent years apprenticing in Austria under some of Europe's top sausage makers before bringing his learnings back to home turf and launching his company.
To say the brand exploded would be an understatement. Kwinter dogs became the "official frank" of private boxes at the Rogers Centre, then called the SkyDome, expanded nationwide and became the only independent brand to launch co-branded products with President's Choice.
Jack passed away in 1990, but the brand continued to operate for another 25 years under the leadership of his wife, Simie, daughter, Bren, and son, Lawrence, before the family finally closed the facility down in 2015. The winds of change in this city blow strong enough to topple empires, as we've well gleaned by now.
Eagle-eyed Toronto hot dog fans may have noticed that there's still a hot dog business bearing the Kwinter name around the city these days, though.
Kwinter's Hot Dogs, which launched to much fanfare in the summer of 2025, is also helmed by a branch of the Kwinter family, and also makes a mean hot dog, but, as Hilary Kwinter, the wife of (stay with me) Dylan Kwinter, Jack's grandson, tells blogTO, only those from J. Kwinter are the real deal.
"Soon after Simie [Kwinter] passed away, a hot dog labelled 'Kwinter's' entered the market, and it genuinely shocked us," Hilary tells blogTO.
"We were not expecting it, and almost immediately our legacy customers and J. Kwinter lovers across Canada noticed the difference, and we heard from them. We received thousands of emails, phone calls, and Instagram messages from people saying, 'We tried the hot dog and it didn't taste the same,' and many 'I'm confused' comments!"
The response made one thing clear: the original J. Kwinter hot dogs needed to make a comeback, so Bren Kwinter, Jack's daughter, Dylan and Hilary got to work on bringing the business back to life as faithfully as they possibly could.
It wasn't just the launch of Kwinter's Hot Dogs that spurred the group into action, though. In early 2020, they had reconnected with a sausage-maker who worked in the original factory to begin taking steps towards a relaunch. But then... well, you know.
The COVID-related delays posed something of a silver lining for the Kwinter family, though, buying time for Bren, Dylan, and Hilary to get things absolutely perfect: their goal from the very beginning.
"We set out to recreate the identical product exactly as Jack made it, using the original recipe, the original quality, and the original logo. We even hunted down the original smokehouses that were used in our [North York] factory so we could preserve the same natural smoking process people remembered from the original product," Hilary says.
After all the waiting, J. Kwinter Gourmet Foods is finally ready to make a comeback this June, and they're not doing it quietly.
The company has already secured retail distribution with Bruno's, Pusateri's, Hartman's and, later in the summer, Eataly, as well as a partnership with Chef Mark McEwan, in which J. Kwinter hot dogs will be available as part of the hot food offerings at McEwan's Don Mills location and a standalone booth will be added to McEwan's TD Centre location.
On top of that, and a number of event appearances like the Yorkville Exotic Car Show and National Bank Open, the family is also opening a standalone location on June 8, serving fresh beef and veal hot dogs on their homemade poppyseed buns. The location, yet to be announced, will be revealed on the brand's Instagram.
Beyond the satisfaction of bringing that famous Kwinter "snap" back to its unyielding fans, Hilary adds that, relaunching the brand faithfully has been a meaningful way for the family to honour Jack's legacy.
"[Jack] poured his entire heart and soul into his products, his process, and his community. Bringing J. Kwinter back properly became about protecting and preserving everything he spent a lifetime building," she tells blogTO.
J. Kwinter Gourmet Foods
